King of the mountain: Mark McMorris reflects on X Games legacy

By Brett Lubkiwski

From growing up on the flatland to the top of the Winter X Games mountain, it has been a long journey for Regina snowboarding star Mark McMorris.

McMorris took home the gold medal in the men’s slopestyle competition at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo. on Sunday, successfully defending his title from last year to earn his seventh slopestyle gold in the competition.

“Every time (I win), as I get older and have been in it longer, it’s even more surprising,” McMorris told the Green Zone’s Jamie Nye on Tuesday.

“I’m just so grateful. I cannot believe I can still compete with these young guns and to be able to do it when it counted (in the final) was so special. This X Games legacy is really building and I’m super-happy with the position I’m in.”

Add four more golds in the Big Air competition, eight career silver medals and three bronze and Sunday’s win gives McMorris a total of 22 career Winter X Games medals. That puts him ahead of American snowboarder Jamie Anderson for the most all-time in the history of the event.

“It’s something I could have never imagined would happen,” McMorris said. “All I wanted to do was be able to snowboard for a living and everything since then has just been a bonus.

“To have these kind of accolades, I never in my wildest dreams thought this could happen, so the gratitude is through the roof and I’m just thankful to be where I am.”

McMorris broke onto the snowboarding scene in 2011 when, as a 17-year-old, he competed at his first ever Winter X Games. He brought home a silver in slopestyle, earning the first of his 22 medals.

He turned heads within the snowboarding community and other riders knew he was going to be a top competitor in the sport for years to come.

Now he’s 29 and one of the elder statesmen in the snowboarding world. He was the oldest man in the field at this year’s slopestyle event.

McMorris says he has embraced being a leader and role model within the sport.

“It’s a pretty neat opportunity (and) responsibility, being like a leader in that space and trying to have snowboarding’s best interests in mind,” he said. “I feel like I play a bigger role nowadays than I did when I was younger because of the success and just how much I really appreciate our sport and what it’s given me.

“A lot of these kids are super-respectful. For me, I’m just trying to set a good example and have fun. They keep me young and keep me pushing, that’s for sure.”

McMorris looks back to his early years in the sport and being introduced to some of the legends of snowboarding. He said he tries to emulate the leadership and the respect they showed him when he was younger.

“I know how much that meant to me back then, so introducing myself if they’re too scared to say something or just giving everyone the time of day — especially those younger guys who haven’t really been around — is something I definitely try to focus on,” said McMorris.

“My very first X Games when Shaun (White) was like, ‘Hey, what’s up, Mark?’ and knew who I was, I was like, ‘Holy (crap)!’ It’s cool to show those kids that you have respect for their riding and you know who they are because it really does go a long way.”

McMorris still has one medal missing from his trophy case. That’s an Olympic gold medal, which has eluded him three times.

He won bronze in slopestyle at the previous three Winter Olympic Games, including in 2014 when he competed in the event despite having broken a rib after a serious crash at the X Games only weeks earlier.